Passenger Seat

A few days later I was getting ready to go to lunch with Blue and Amanda when Niall called.

“I hate to do this…”

“Uh, do what?” I asked confused. He sounded stressed and I couldn’t figure out why he would be.

He sighed, “So I know we’re supposed to have our date tonight, but would you be mad if Liam came? Dani left for tour last night and he’s really bummed.”

I was so caught off guard by that that I actually laughed, “Of course it’s fine. I’d do the same thing if it were Blue. Are you sure you still wanna go out? We can reschedule and you and Liam can just do something.”

“No!” he said instantly, “I want to see you. I want to be seen in public with you. Really with you.”

I smiled when he said that, “Okay. Where are we going anyway?”

“Well I was going to take you somewhere nice, but now I’m thinking we get drinks and hit up some restaurant.”

“That’s fine with me. More my taste anyway.”

He chuckled, “Well I’ve got to get back to rehearsal. I’ll see you tonight yeah?”

“Yeah. Bye.”

“Bye beautiful.” He had this amazing ability to make me feel like I was floating simply by one word.

*****

“So Oli said he wants you to shoot another Drop Dead spread,” Amanda said. We were having lunch at this café in Sheffield.

Blue beamed, “I know, I’m excited!”

Amanda turned her gaze on me then, “I really want to do a photo shoot with you.”

I shook my head vigorously, “No, no. I don’t think I want to get in front of the camera again anytime soon.”

“Shame,” Blue muttered, “Niall really loved the poster I gave him.” I glared at her.

“Oh yeah, how is it dating a teen heartthrob?” Amanda laughed.

I rolled my eyes but smiled, “It’s something. We’re actually going on our first public date tonight.”

“Oh my god! Where are you going? What are you wearing?” Amanda asked excitedly, jumping in her seat.

“Something casual,” I shrugged. “His band mate is tagging along so we’re getting drinks then food somewhere.”

“Who’s crashing your date?” Blue asked.

“Liam. I guess he’s down because his girlfriend just left on tour.”

Amanda stole a chip from my plate, “Is he dating a pop star too?”

I shook my head, “No, Danielle’s a dancer. She’s touring with Girls Aloud right now.”

“Wow, that’s exciting!”

“Our little Ayden has gotten a whole new life,” Blue joked. “Who would have thought that with the life we live, you know, sex, drugs and rock and roll,” she joked, “that you’d fall into the bubble gum pop crowd.”

I stuck my tongue out at her, “They’re really not all that different.”

“How’s the sex?” Amanda interjected, “I’m sorry, I’ve been wondering this whole time.”

I laughed awkwardly, trying to hide the fact that I was blushing so hard, “Uh… we haven’t gone that far yet?”

“Are you taking the piss?” She asked shocked, “But he’s fit! And Irish!”

“Yeah I am a little shocked you haven’t slept with him yet,” Blue commented, “You and Josh wasted almost not time in that department.”

I tried so hard not to blush, but it was no use. I shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s not that I don’t want too, I just… I don’t want to rush anything. That and I wanted to make sure there was more than just a friends with benefits thing.”

“I totally understand that,” Amanda nodded. “I did the same thing when I first met Oli. I wanted to be more than just a notch on his bedpost.”

“Looks like it worked out great, you’ve been together for years,” I smiled.

“The one that tamed Oli Sykes,” Blue laughed.

Amanda groaned, “I hate when people say that.” She picked at her food, “But let’s get back to the topic at hand- what’s Ayden wearing on her date tonight?”

“Please, please, please wear that skirt you wore to Elissa’s show. You looked so good!” Blue begged.

I shrugged, “I was thinking that. And one of my pairs of Doc Martins. No idea what top I’m wearing though.”

“Let’s go shopping!” Amanda beamed, “You have time before you have to make the drive back to London.”

Blue sat up straighter, “Yes shopping!”

I shrugged, “Sure, why not.”

*****

Blue helped me get ready for my date. She was twisting some strands of my hair, to make them into spiral curls. Despite Blue’s incessant nagging I wasn’t wearing a skirt. I decided on tight (super tight) black pants, white Doc Martins, the long glittery skull tank top I borrowed from Blue and my leather jacket.

“So even though I’m still gutted you didn’t go with a skirt, you still look amazing.”

I smiled, “Thanks.” I took a deep breath before I went back to fixing my dark eye makeup.

“You nervous?” Blue asked as she stepped back to look over her work on my hair.

I nodded, “Yeah, but mostly because of the attention we’ll probably get tonight.”

“Just ignore all that and just focus on Niall… and Liam,” she said with an amused face.

I laughed, “It’s almost better that Liam’s coming. It takes some of the pressure off. Maybe the paparazzi won’t have all their focus on Niall and his ‘new girlfriend.’”

“That’s true,” she agreed, “And it’s probably good to get to know his friends more too. And Liam seems like a nice lad.”

“He’s very polite,” I laughed. “I just want them all to like me.”

Blue scoffed, “What’s not to like? And their girlfriends already seem to like you. You talk to Dakota a lot.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, “She’s sweet.”

“Just don’t replace me,” she joked.

I rolled my eyes and pulled her into an overly dramatic hug, “I could never replace you, you nutter!”

“I was just making sure!” She said trying to push me off of her. The doorbell rang, “I’ll get it!” she exclaimed, “You put some lipstick on or something.”

I rolled my eyes as she bolted out of my room. I turned and looked down at the various lipsticks I had. I looked back up at my reflection, looking over my eye makeup. It wasn’t that heavy, but done up enough that I really didn’t need any lip color. I shrugged and walked out to the living room where I heard voice.

I walked in and found Blue, Niall and Liam making casual conversation, “Here she is!” Blue said when I walked in. The boys turned around when she said that.

“Hey Liam,” I acknowledged.

He smiled, “Hey.”

Then I turned my attention to Niall. He was wearing jeans that hung low on his waist, his surpas, a black shirt and a hoodie. The snapback wasn’t in attendance tonight. He looked me up and down as he slowly walked towards me. I felt a little self-conscious with his stare.

I looked down over my outfit, “Is this okay? I don’t know where we’re going but you said casual so-”

“You look amazing,” He said as his hands made contact with my hips.

I looked up and met his eyes, blushing slightly, “Thank you.”

He hummed in response before leaning in to give me a quick kiss. Well, at least I thought it was going to be quick, before I even processed that his lips were on mine, his tongue was in my mouth. His hands tugging me closer to him.

Someone cleared their throat, “Well it’s a good thing you didn’t go with any lipstick then,” Blue commented.

I pulled away from Niall and smiled apologetically at Liam and Blue, “Sorry.”

“You may be sorry, but Niall’s not,” Liam smirked. Niall huffed out a laugh into my neck before placing a kiss on it.

Blue patted Liam’s shoulder, “You have fun being third wheel tonight kid.”

“You can come with too if you want,” Niall said.

“I’d love too, but I’ve got plans with my boyfriend tonight as well.” She smirked, “But I expect her home at a decent hour boy.”

I rolled my eyes and Niall laughed, “You got it.” We said goodbye to Blue and headed out.

Once we got to the lift Niall started informing me on the paparazzi situation, “They’ll probably show up some time while we’re out. It’s hard to say when, but it’s pretty much a guarantee.”

I bit my lip and nodded, “Okay.”

“Don’t worry,” Liam nudged my arm with his elbow, “Just ignore them and pretend they aren’t there. It’s better if you don’t engage with them.”

“Got it.”

“I will tell them we’re together though, if they ask,” Niall said pulling me into his side.

I blushed, “If that’s what you want.”

“Oh he wants it,” Liam laughed, “He had a whole meeting with our management about it.”

“Really?” the lift opened and we headed out of the building to Niall’s truck.

“Yeah, we have to give them a heads up when we go public with things,” Niall said as he opened the passenger side door for me.

“Makes sense I guess.”

“Sorry for crashing your date,” Liam said once my door was closed. Niall was making his way around to his side.

I turned around in my seat, “No problem, I don’t mind. I like hanging out with you guys.” Niall hopped in the car then.

He smiled, “We like you too. The girls especially.”

“What are we talking about?” Niall asked as he started driving.

“How you picked a winner,” Liam said before I could answer. I blushed, but thankfully I don’t think anyone noticed because of the darkened car.

Niall reached over and laced my fingers with his, “I know I did,” he chuckled.

The rest of the ride was filled with random conversation and me messing with the stereo.

Niall took us to one of his favorite pubs. “They have the best food and cheap drinks.”

I laughed, “Sounds awesome!” And it did. Better than going somewhere overly expensive. That wasn’t my style.

The night was fun. I loved being around Niall, but having Liam there was awesome too. He was a really sweet guy, and snarky too. The night was filled with good conversation and a lot of laughing.

I decided I loved Niall’s laugh. I loved that when he did it, he threw his whole body into it. His laugh was full and hearty, and loud. And the way it lit up his whole face was probably the best part.

“You really like him don’t you?” Liam asked at one point when Niall went to go get more drinks.

I blushed, “Yeah, I do.”

“I won’t lie, I wasn’t sure how you two would work. I thought you were way too different,” he explained. “But seeing you two together, and how you play off each other, you guys are perfect almost.”

My heart felt like it was going to burst at his words. I couldn’t fight the goofy grin that was on my face, “Thanks Liam. That means a lot that you say that.”

“Be good to him, yeah? And if he gives you trouble, you tell me.”

I laughed, “You got it.”

“What are you talking about?” Niall asked coming back with the next round.

Liam shrugged, “Just that I’m Ayden’s favorite in One Direction.”

I laughed, “Yeah, its true. I’m a Liam girl.”

“I’m sorry, Liam’s mine. There isn’t any sharing,” Niall smirked.

*****

“Are you ready for this?” Niall asked as we were about to leave.

I nodded, “Yeah. Bring it on.”

He gave me a comforting smile before lacing our fingers together and led us out the door. Liam was to my right, behind me a little.

When we got out the door, lights started flashing, and people started shouting.

There were about 15 or so of them and they all followed us down the street to the car.

“Niall! Liam! How is your night?”

“Where you headed now?”

“Niall who’s the girl?”

“Is she your girlfriend?”

“Yeah mate, she’s my girlfriend.”

I kept my head down a bit, just to keep the flashing out of my eyes. Niall and Liam chatted casually with the photographers as we walked. They tried to talk to me but I ignored them like they told me too.

Niall squeezed my hand, “Almost to the car,” he whispered to me.

“Liam are you playing third wheel tonight? Where’s Danielle?”

“She’s on tour,” He mumbled back.

When we finally made it to the car, Niall opened my door for me again and we all jumped in.
“Wasn’t that bad,” I sighed as Niall started to drive.

“Yeah, luckily they were all really nice,” Liam said from the back. “Sometimes they can get nasty.”

“Awesome,” I said dryly.

Niall squeezed my thigh, “Just ignore negativity. It’s what we do.”

*****

It was nearly 1 in the morning when we dropped Liam off.

“I thought you were told to take me home at a decent hour Horan,” I joked as he headed in the opposite direction of my flat.

He scoffed, “I finally get some alone time with you. I’ll risk Blue grounding you for that.”

I smirked at his words, “Are we going to my spot?”

“Yep.”

We drove in silence. A comfortable silence and Niall held my hand in his lap as he drove.

When we got to the lookout, he parked then smirked at me, “What?”

He just chuckled before he climbed into the backseat.

I looked back at him, “What are you doing?”

He laid across the backseat, “Well a few days ago you pointed out that we’ve never fogged up any car windows. I’m kind of in the mood to change that is you are.”

I stared at him as a smile spread across my face. He smirked in response before I climbed over the seat and crawled on top of him, wasting no time attaching out lips.